State of Vermont Joins Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Vermont has become the 17th state to join the Partnership for 21st Century Skills' Leadership State Initiative.
Vermont Department of Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca said the move is designed to help the state prepare students that are ready to adapt to the realities of the 21st century.
"This partnership allows Vermont to better prepare a system to develop learners that will be exposed to a variety of expectations, challenges and opportunities," Vilaseca said in a prepared statement. "Vermont will better enable our students to be successful in the 21st and 22nd centuries."
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a coalition of business and education groups focused on technology education and the integration of technology into education. The group provides the Framework for 21st Century Learning, a roadmap for education centered around technology and skills-focused learning.
The framework focuses largely on student outcomes in 21st century learning areas, including life and career skills, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, technology and information/media literacy, and core academic subjects using 21st century themes. It also includes guidelines for the supports required for 21st century learning, including standards and assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development, and learning environments.
According to P21, "As a P21 State, Vermont will be able to share in the expertise of the 16 other leadership states, while working in partnership with the State Board of Education (SBE), the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators (VSBPE) and pre-service and in-service providers, the New England Secondary School Consortium, and the Vermont Department of Education (VT DOE), to foster 21st century teaching and learning."
"This new partnership provides additional capacity for educators in Vermont as we develop innovative opportunities for students, and proficiency based pathways to college and career readiness." said Vermont Department of Education Deputy Commissioner John Fischer.
The complete list of 21st Century Skills Leadership States now includes Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Those states represent about 27 percent of the student population in the United States.
Additional details about individual state initiatives can be found on Partnership for 21st Century Skills' site.
| Editor's note: This article has been modified since its original publication to correct the a factual error. John Fischer and Armando Vilaseca are, of course, with the Vermont Department of Education, not the Virginia Department of Education. We apologize for the error. [Last modified July 2, 2012 at 3:49 p.m.] -- David Nagel |